The 90s hit sitcom Friends is back today for a reunion episode on HBO Max. 27 years after the show first aired, fans from across continents and age groups continue to pay homage to it through Friends-themed festivals, cafes, bizarre merchandise, and even raves. In 2019, Friends was one of the most watched shows on Netflix with subscribers spending 54.3 million hours watching it.
The show that changed television forever was a huge hit amongst Gen X and millennials. But over time, it seems to have attracted even Gen Z folks who are younger than the show itself. Now, these young people are carrying their newfound love for the old show to their dating app profiles.
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A recent study by Tinder India found that the dating app witnessed a 3.5 times increase in mentions of “Friends Reunion” on the platform in April 2021 as compared to April 2020. References to the show have apparently popped up everywhere, with 93 percent of them on Tinder coming from Gen Z.
For these young people looking for love or a quick hook-up, the most popular character seems to be Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) at 62 percent of the references. Chandler comes in next, even though we can’t imagine swiping right on someone saying, “I’m hopeless and awkward and desperate for love.”
Serial dater Joey figures high on the list while Ross is referenced a fair bit too — with his catchphrases “Unagi” and “my lobster” popping up at several places.
Some of the bio descriptors that referenced the hit show read as follows:
- Let’s be Monica and Chandler in a world full of Ross and Rachel
- Sarcastic like Chandler, innocent like Joey, funny like Phoebe, organized like Monica (not), serious like Ross-Rachel’s love!
- Waiting for a Joey to come by and say, “how you doing?”
- Looking for Monica, but only coming across Janices :/
- Contrary to Joey, I do share my food
In the hilarious and ever-evolving generational wars that have dotted social media since a while now, Gen Z recently trolled millennials with certain habits and traits as “cheugy”, which is kinda like saying they’re outdated.
So, millennials who drink Rosé, share Pinterest-inspired quotes and use words like “doggo” are apparently cheugy. They claimed even watching reruns of Friends is cheugy, but clearly, not all young people seem to agree.
Maybe the generation war is just on a break?
